From AP:

[New Jersey] Gov. James E. McGreevey plans to endorse Howard Dean for president and has asked state Democrats to begin campaigning for the former Vermont governor, state Democratic officials said Tuesday.

Officials said McGreevey's endorsement, which he plans to announce Friday, is part of a broader push by Dean to gain backing of Democratic governors and other party leaders. . . .

Campaigning Tuesday in Arizona, Dean won the endorsement of former Arizona Gov. and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. With a Feb. 3 Democratic primary, Arizona will be one of the first western states to vote in the race.

Dean's campaign plans to announce an endorsement from the leadership of the Democratic National Committee Hispanic Caucus on Tuesday as well as the backing of Peg Lautenschlager, attorney general of Wisconsin. That state holds a critical primary in February.

Dean has won praise -- but not endorsements -- from Govs. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania and Bill Richardson of New Mexico. His campaign manager, Joe Trippi, meets with Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm on Thursday.

It all continues falling nicely into place. Things will only escalate, as he appears more inevitable.

Meanwhile, Madonna endorses Wesley Clark.

Really nice piece by Kareem Fahim just published in The Village Voice:

The New Electable Howard Dean

Funny how the "fringe" press like the Voice and Salon and Slate always seem to get what's going on months and months before the networks or the New York Times. (Much less 99% of their lesser ilk.)

The piece has some nice opening moments about the long-term effects of this weekend:

 Joseph Lieberman moved to inject some life into his wilting campaign with a little domestic bellicosity . . . John Kerry joined Lieberman in suggesting that their support for the war was now vindicated.

There were no signs, at press time, that much had changed in Iraq. In the last two days car bombs killed 27 Iraqis. An American soldier was killed Sunday while defusing a roadside bomb.

But then it gets down to the real business of what this campaign is really about, and how Dean has been working steadily to broaden his appeal--in foreign policy, race, etc. Lots of great anecdotes and color about how he's going about it and how well it is beginning to work, but this passage from the conclusion sums up the transformation quite nicely:

Last month, a reporter spotted a printout tacked to a wall in Dean's New York campaign headquarters. It was a posting from the Note, ABC News' website on politics. Entries on a long list of observations about the Dean campaign included: "What doesn't kill Howard Dean only makes him stronger"; and "Howard Dean Doesn't Have Cable TV."

Observation #16 was more serious, if not a little wordy.

"Dean can theoretically win a general election race against President Bush, but not without growing significantly as a candidate and a person, including and especially in rhetorical and symbolic relationship to faith, family, freedom, and national security."

Eric Schmeltzer, the campaign's New York press secretary, admitted he hadn't even noticed the entry. The list was on the wall, he said, because of observation #18, which claimed that Dean staffers have more fun than those who work for other campaigns.

But #16 seems to have been internalized, and in December—despite the Dean campaign's attempts to deny the change—a transformation seemed to be under way.

Smart guy. Nice moves.

One of the most striking things about the Dean campaign is they seem to be putting so many important elements together so well simultaneously: Building up a massive organizational structure to mobilize against Bush in the fall; gradually raising their profile/approval nationally, while making dramatic strides in the early states, first NH and Iowa, then onward to the next rounds; gradually winning over key endorsements from the party machineray, including two big unions and a whole lot of local officials, all the way up to the Gore endorsement that they worked for months on; looking forward to the general election and broadening the appeal and shoring up his expertise on a host of different issues, so he can respond intelligently, and make Bush look like the goofball he is when they go face to face.

Very impressive. So much more than we've seen out of any of the other campaigns. Kind of gives you confidence in how well he's likely to run the state as chief executive.

(Thanks to David for the heads up on the story.)

One of the major knocks about Dean is that he'll get shellacked in the south, which the Dems supposedly cannot afford.

Then why is he pulling ahead in one southern poll after another, in the Dem primary race? The latest polls are from Arizona and Texas (Clark in second in both; Dean leads in Texas by 2, Arizona by a whopping ten).

Yes, these are just against Dems, but he's doing better down there than the southern Dems--Edwards is barely on the map in his own turf.

Nice analysis and more numbers from Kos.